Coventry Sphinx 4-0 GNG Oadby Town
Stuart Guest
There aren't many teams in the Midlands at this level who are capable of handling a Coventry Sphinx performance that shifts from subpar to stellar almost at the flick of a switch.
Shaun Thomas and John Woodward's side took their time to get going in their Uhlsport United Counties League Premier Division South fixture against GNG Oadby Town but scored four times in the second half to claim what was ultimately a well deserved win.
The team finally shook off the cobwebs of a Bank Holiday disappointment and a goalless first half to put in a much more familiar display in the second.
The only change to the starting line-up was one Downes brother for another. Jack came back into midfield to replace Luke alongside captain Callum Woodward, with Leo Stone continuing at the point of the triangle behind Matty Shipman and Cally Stewart.
Duncan Van Den Top kept a clean sheet thanks to a solid second senior game in the Sphinx goal. Jamie Draper, Louis Guest and James Bryson lined up in the back three. Callum Martin and Jordan Hayward were the wing backs.
The home team made a brighter start than they had in defeat to Rothwell Corinthians but the hangover of a busy Bank Holiday weekend soon reared its head. Sphinx surrendered early second balls and got a wake-up call when Van Den Top was forced into saving well with his feet after just a few minutes.
In the ninth minute Sphinx came close to the lead. The chance was the first of a few to fall the way of Guest, on this occasion a firm header from an excellent Woodward corner delivery. Oadby goalkeeper Charlie Andrews had the measure of it all the way.
Sphinx settled for a while and were more measured in possession, carving out a couple of promising attacks in the first quarter of an hour before being caught on the break. Bryson made a superb block to keep the game goalless.
The remainder of the first half acquired its shape with 18 minutes played. Sphinx, having drifted again into a scruffy spell, were incensed when skipper Woodward was injured by a stamp after winning a tackle. The home team felt it was a deliberate action and tempers flared. They did not subside easily.
In the 34th minute Guest put in an uncompromising tackle outside the Sphinx penalty area and was soon on the deck having been struck off the ball in retaliation. Yet more afters soon followed and Sphinx’s discipline was severely tested before the goals came.
Martin got himself onto the end of a delicate Stone clip and had his shot saved. Oadby responded with a low shot that went just wide of Van Den Top’s goalpost and another that flew over the crossbar. At the other end, Andrews held the final attempt of the half from Stewart.
The second half was much better but it took a few minutes for Sphinx to get going. In the fourth minute of the half more clever work from Stone created an opening for Stewart, whose shot was deflected over.
Oadby’s threat hadn’t yet been dealt with, though, and they broke again a couple of minutes later. This time, Van Den Top easily fielded the shot at the end of it.
Sphinx won a free kick near the edge of the penalty area in the 54th minute. It was whipped in low for Hayward, who turned it towards goal. Guest almost got there but an Oadby defender was able to clear it away for a corner.
After one more scare defensively, the home team finally got a handle on the match. On the hour, Stewart collected a lovely pass into the left channel, turned brilliantly and teed up Stone. His shot went wide but Sphinx were starting to make things happen.
Guest was unable to properly connect when he found himself behind the defensive line after Bryson had lifted an initially cleared free kick back into danger in the 62nd minute, but the defenders handed over the creative reins and Sphinx’s centre forward opened the scoring a minute later.
Loz Rawlings, on the pitch for just a few minutes at that point, produced a sensational volleyed cross from the right that found Shipman. He thumped his header into the corner of the net. Andrews had no chance and Sphinx had the lead. From there, it was plain sailing.
Shipman hooked a speculative effort over the crossbar a few minutes after giving his team the lead and made the second in the 69th minute. Draper fired a cracker of a pass in behind, allowing Shipman and Stewart to spring the Oadby line and go clear. After drawing in Andrews, Shipman rolled the ball to the side for his partner. Stewart tapped it home for 2-0.
The edge hadn’t been taken out of the game by the middle of the second half but any sense of a contest certainly had. All the quality now came from Sphinx and the majority of it was in the Oadby half.
Stewart whipped in a free kick and Guest wasn’t able to adjust his footing in time to divert it into the waiting net, but two goals in a minute soon ensured once and for all that the match was truly done and dusted.
In the 78th minute, Rawlings and Shipman exchanged passes on the right. Shipman’s pass across goal was intercepted but he won the resulting header and sent the ball to the back post. Stewart leaped and nodded the ball into the top corner to make it 3-0 with his second of the game.
Then, in the 79th, substitute Harvey Billing scored his first of the season. Stewart twisted and turned on the edge of the penalty area before laying the ball back to the midfielder, whose drive took a huge deflection off a defender to leave Andrews helpless in the Oadby goal.
Draper cleared one off the line in the 83rd minute and a cheeky backheel attempt for Oadby went close but all that really remained was effectively a post-blitzkrieg victory lap for the home team.
Mason Platts thought he was fouled in the box with a little over five minutes to play. Stewart’s free kick clipped the top of the wall and landed on the top of the net in stoppage time.
Perhaps Sphinx’s best football of the game came at the death. A fabulous long pass out of defence from Guest found Jack Downes on the right. His impeccable first touch left him free to cross for Shipman, whose second hooked attempt of the match went just over.
After a shrug of a first half – albeit one with no lack of effort or desire – Sphinx clicked and ruthlessly put away a feisty Oadby team. 4-0 didn't flatter them in the end.
The instant impact of Rawlings was an important catalyst. Billing also came off the bench to make his mark. But it was Shipman's shift in the second half that most caught the eye. He scored and created. He won his headers. He held the ball up and brought Stewart and the midfielders into the game in the attacking third.
With both strikers firing and a much needed clean sheet secured at the other end, Sphinx can look back on an inconsistent but fruitful start to the season. They can and should go into their first UCL League Cup tie, against Pinchbeck United, in confident mood.
Sphinx team
Van Den Top, Draper, C. Martin (Rawlings), J. Downes, Guest, Bryson (Platts), Hayward (Fraser), Woodward (Billing), Shipman, Stone (Whiteside), Stewart